SOUTH HEART - Beulah had four players reach double-figures, but it was Mason Dolbec - and the final two of his four points - that won it for the Miners.
After making a comeback to tie it at 63 with 2.7 seconds to play at Heart River on Tuesday, Beulah was simply hoping for overtime. The Cougars inbounded the ball from the opposite end of the floor, and Beulah’s Chad Morsette slapped the ball away from Heart River’s Cauy Shypkoski. The ball found its way to Dolbec, who lofted a high-arcing shot from inside the three-point line on the right side. It splashed through the net to give Beulah the 65-63 Region 7 victory at South Heart High School.
“I just knew it was in, I don’t know why,” Beulah junior Derek Ferebee said. “He clutched up and made it.”
Ferebee spearheaded the Miners’ (10-3, 6-1 Region 7) comeback, scoring 13 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter.
“He makes a lot of plays for us. He got a little more aggressive offensively and took it upon himself a little bit more,” Miners head coach Jeremy Brandt said. “I think he’s one of the better players in our region, and it’s no surprise that he does that.”
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Heart River led by five with 27.2 seconds to play but let it slip away.
After Cougars junior Caleb Chruszch hit a pair of free throws for the five-point edge, Ferebee hit a three-pointer from the right corner with 16.6 seconds left. Beulah sent Chruszch back to the line on the next possession, and he made 1 of 2 to make it 63-60. Ferebee answered by driving to the right baseline and whipping a pass to the left wing, where senior Reece Hoherz hit the tying three-pointer, the last of his 11 points.
Heart River (9-5, 3-3) called a timeout and head coach Greg Pruitt drew up a play to get a heave from one of the sidelines, but the play never developed.
“We wanted to get the ball to halfcourt so we could get a look because we didn’t want to go into overtime,” Pruitt said. “We had a five-point lead at the end, but we lost track of their shooters and they hit big shots down the stretch. … We come out of here with a loss, but it’s a win in the long run for us because we’re going to get better off of it.”
Morsette scored 13 points for Beulah, and Jacob Weigel added 11.
Beulah led by one, 15-14, after the first quarter, but Heart River took control from there. For much of the first half, senior Dion Madler got into the lane with ease and finished well at the rim. He had a game-high 20 points, scoring 10 in each half.
Fellow senior Zane Besler backed him up with 14 points, and senior Tristen Schuhrke added 10. Cougars senior Joey Wagner scored nine points on a trio of three-pointers in the fourth quarter that, each time, put Heart River briefly ahead. The Cougars shot 13 of 20 from the free-throw line for the game, however, allowing Beulah to stick around.
“I’ve been on the other side of games like this, and it’s not fun. They deserved to win the game as much as we did,” Brandt said.
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The win comes as a big one for Beulah, which stays with just the one loss in Region 7. The Miners entered the game in third place behind Dickinson Trinity and Mott-Regent, the latter of which defeated Hazen on Tuesday, and Heart River was right behind the Miners in fourth. With Tuesday’s result, Beulah and Heart River’s standings remain unchanged, but the Miners have a little breathing room now.
“They’re a good team and they compete well,” Ferebee said. “It’s always loud in here, it’s a small gym, so we knew it would be tough to come in and get a win.”
Beulah 65, Heart River 63
B 15 8 13 29
HR 14 11 13 25
B: Derek Ferebee 17, Chad Morsette 13, Jacob Weigel 11, Reece Hoherz 11, Logan Miller 6, Mason Dolbec 4, Aaron Vallejo 3.
HR: Dion Madler 20, Zane Besler 14, Tristen Schuhrke 10, Joey Wagner 9, Caleb Chruszch 7, Cauy Shypkoski 3.
